Anti-infantry directional blast mines are a powerful type of explosive with a limited blast radius. Their defining feature is their directional detonation.
While ordinary mines explode with a spherical shockwave, directional blasts focus the expanding shockwave into a single direction, significantly amplifying its power.
Even bodies with advanced cybernetic modifications struggle to withstand the force of a directional mine.
Jiang Heng had encountered these mines numerous times on missions, even narrowly escaping death once. He knew them well.
The moment he heard the beeping, he sensed danger. Without hesitation, he activated Bullet Time.
Swoosh~
Jiang Heng lunged forward, shielding Lucy.
BOOM!!
A deafening roar echoed, leaving them both with ringing ears.
Jiang Heng had thrown Lucy to the ground. She was still stunned, completely unaware of what had just happened.
Jiang Heng breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, he had Bullet Time. Otherwise, Lucy would have joined Rebecca as "Lucy-酱" before he could even react.
“Jiang, Jiang Heng, are you okay?”
Lucy quickly regained her senses and worriedly looked at Jiang Heng.
“I’m fine. It’s a directional mine. We avoided the blast direction, so we’re safe.” Jiang Heng said with a smile.
Directional blast mines have significant advantages but also obvious drawbacks. As long as you avoid the blast direction, the shockwave's impact is negligible. Of course, only someone with Bullet Time like Jiang Heng could easily dodge it. Anyone else wouldn't even have time to react.
“Whew~ That's good.” Lucy finally relaxed.
Escaping Arasaka, Lucy had run without looking back. Her ears were filled with the screams of her comrades, becoming a haunting nightmare she couldn't escape.
Over the years, Lucy had wandered, refusing to make friends. The pain of loss was too much to bear.
No possession, no loss.
But with Jiang Heng, Lucy couldn't help herself.
Humans are social creatures after all. Even the most dedicated otaku or someone with severe social anxiety wouldn't be entirely devoid of emotional attachments.
…
Jiang Heng pulled himself up from the ground and offered Lucy a hand.
“Lucy, you can't be so reckless in the future. These gang members are desperate. Their territory is full of dangers. We need to be vigilant at all times.”
After dusting himself off, Jiang Heng tapped Lucy's forehead and said,
“Okay, okay! I know.”
Lucy blushed and nodded.
“Alright, let's continue. Stay close behind me.” Jiang Heng continued searching for the terminal.
They soon found it, and Lucy, with her exceptional hacking skills, effortlessly bypassed the password and accessed the data.
After reading the files, both Jiang Heng and Lucy felt a wave of nausea.
The Arasaka gang members were not just adding excessive additives and hormones to the "糊糊". They were actually grinding up the bodies of people they had killed and adding them to the mix.
In other words, some of the synthetic meat on the market may have contained human flesh!
“Ugh~~”
Lucy couldn't hold it back anymore and vomited up her dinner.
She remembered that she used to eat synthetic foods. While those synthetic meats might not have come from this factory, the possibility made her stomach churn.
Even Jiang Heng felt his sanity plummeting. He knew the world was crazy, but he never imagined it was this crazy.
Actually, proper synthetic meat isn't that bad. It's usually made from earthworms, crickets, and other insects.
These insects are mostly high in protein and low in carbohydrates, making them excellent healthy foods.
Even in Jiang Heng's previous world, certain types of insects were part of people's diets, such as deep-fried insects. Those were essentially no different from the synthetic food here, and the synthetic food might even be healthier.
Synthetic food contains not only insect meat but also various nutrients. You don't need to eat a lot to get enough protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, etc.
Synthetic food also effectively avoids obesity and food safety issues.
And because the cost of synthetic food is inherently low, it generally wouldn't make sense for anyone to adulterate it.
But there's always an exception. Who would have thought the Arasaka gang would be so depraved?
From the files, Jiang Heng and Lucy learned that the Arasaka gang was involved in numerous illegal activities, such as black-cyberdream recordings, used cybernetic body part sales, etc. They turned these illegal businesses into a production line.
First, they would lure people in to record black cyberdreams, then strip them of their cybernetic parts and sell them to black clinics, and finally, they wouldn't even spare the victims' bodies. It was utterly heinous!